Help With Your Application

There are a number of places to turn to for help with your application.

How to write a SARE Farmer Grant

SARE has developed a useful booklet called How to Write a SARE Farmer Grant. This booklet goes through each question in the application, gives sample responses with critiques, describes how budgets are put together, and covers SARE policy on what funds can be used for.

The booklet can be downloaded from the "For Applicants" box to the right or requested in print by calling 802-656-0471.

Get a technical advisor

Before writing anything, it's important for you to talk your project through with your technical advisor. All projects must have a technical advisor such as a county extension agent, NRCS staff, a university research or extension specialist, a private crop management consultant, or other agricultural service provider.

Check out a webinar

A Farmer Grant webinar was held in the early fall and we saved it on line. You're welcome to review it, although you may want to skip over the first three or four minutes of introductions and preliminary discussion.

Research past grant awards

You should also find out what others have done in your project area. Visit these websites to help you research your project concept:

• Search the SARE projects data base online at www.sare.org
• Organic Farming Research Foundation at www.ofrf.org
• National Agricultural Library at www.nal.usda.gov
• contact Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas at www.attra.org to get a resource packet in your interest area

This basic research will come in very handy when you do your proposal, since reviewers value proposals where the appropriate homework has clearly been done.

Further questions

For questions about the application itself, SARE policy, and your own eligibility, you should contact the SARE office. Staff can guide you on these program-specific matters and can be very helpful if something isn't clear. SARE staff can also talk to you very generally about your project, but staff cannot take the place of the technical advisor.

To communicate with SARE, send e-mail to nesare@uvm.edu or call 802-656-0471.